Map of Content plugin release

Would you like to have this command in the command palette? Then you could set a hotkey for it.

I could release that today. Redesigning the MOC view would take longer. Eventually I want to do that as well though, so you can choose from different central notes from it, add or delete ones etc.

I also have the idea for a feature where you have different central notes for different topics and then the view automatically switches to the one the current note is most closely connected to. That way the transition is super fluent. Let me know if that sounds like something youā€™d like to have.

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Command palette works :slight_smile:

Having several central notes would be cool. Thatā€™s how most people work with MOCs I think.

Iā€™ve released an update with the new command. Thank you for the suggestion!

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Awesome. Thanks a lot :slight_smile:

Long time lurker, first time poster. I just made a forum account to let you know how much I appreciate your plugin.

I am using Obsidian to manage the hundreds of files and notes in my dissertation, and without an easy way to quickly create and navigate file hierarchies I have found it challenging to draft and organize my material in Obsidian. I previously found organizational ā€œstructureā€ documents difficult to implement and traverse, and I have been relying on a number of other apps or editing environments like Ulysses to do this. Of course they in turn end up presenting their own (many, many) problems already solved by Obsidian. Your plugin finally makes those structure documents a usable solution for my needsā€“it even works great in the Android app! Moreover, it actually encourages me to get even more organized and granular with my MOC structure files ā€“ for example, a structure not just for each chapter, but for each section of a chapter ā€“ since itā€™s so easy to copy and paste links between the different structures and navigate them. I no longer need to worry about redundancies in the hierarchy, the structure eventually ending up out of date or lost somewhere inside my vault, and all the other problems that made this unviable for me before.

All I have to figure out now is the best and most reliable way to transclude and export the linked documents in my structure files into a single Markdown file for Pandoc processing and I will have locked down a single Obsidian->Pandoc viable for any writing project. Thank you so much again for the plugin!

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There is a plugin called ā€žLongformā€ thatā€™s supposed to help with your exact task. I havenā€™t had a chance to properly test it yet as I am not writing anything long but perhaps it will help.

Thanks for the suggestion! I tried Longform when it was first released as a Community Plugin and, to be honest, I kind of hated the way it worked. The design is pretty limited for people interested in projects other than writing fiction. In order to keep the files in your project straight it also operates in its own gated folder in your vault, and doing even simple things like ā€œimportingā€ currently existing files into it is a big pain. The project does have a roadmap for robust exporting to be included in the future, which I had forgotten, so itā€™s worth keeping an eye on it and whether at some point that becomes a viable option.

For the time being I have a script I made on my Mac that creates a file with MultiMarkDown transclusion links to every Markdown file in a folder drag-and-dropped onto it. This file can then be ran through any mmd-compatible Markdown processor to get a single transcluded Markdown file (Marked works for me). Finally, I just do a batch find/replace to strip the #tags and send it off to Pandoc.

Iā€™ve released an update to the plugin. New features are:

  • Your Map of Content will be updated automatically when you switch between notes, if youā€™ve changed any links

  • Thereā€™s a new top bar with buttons to show or hide more descendants in the tree, and to update the Map of Content

I just downloaded the plugin, and I love how easy it is to use. You donā€™t have to add any more metadata in your notes, it just works with what you already have.

I guess itā€™s meant for people who use MOCs and links to structure their notes, rather than folders, and Iā€™m a link/MOC person, so itā€™s great to have the option to have a ā€˜folder viewā€™ when I want.

Also, I was a bit sad that it covers my backlinks pane, which is what I usually have on the right-hand side, but then I realised that 99% of the backlinks that I click are just to the parent MOC, and your plugin has the Parent MOC at the top anyway! Best of both worlds. Love it!

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@Robin-Haupt this is a great plugin, thanks for sharing!

One more question/proposition: is it/would it be possible to ā€œpinā€ an MOC so that I can keep my overview while browsing the tree? I thought this would be the case when unchecking the ā€œauto-updateā€ function but strangely that doesnā€™t change its behaviour (I restarted obsidian). Is this a bug or did I misinterpret the auto-update feature?

You can just drag the MOC pane underneath the backlinks pane and see both. Thatā€™s how i have it.

Do you mean that the path from the Central Note stays visible when you scroll down the tree?

I wanted to say that the central noteā€™s MOC should stay intact/visible even when clicking a note from the MOC for checking itā€™s content. Now, the MOC always adapts to the note that is activated. Sometimes this is cool, but sometimes I just want to browse the tree - thus an option would be cool that allows toggling the MOCā€™s actual behaviour! Or does this already exist?

I just discovered your plugin. Thank you so much! It is very easy and very nice to use at the same time. Saves me soooo much trouble. (Another dissertation-writer here with lots of topics whose relations change dynamically. Your plugin helps me not only to stay on top of themā€¦ but never before could I see that clearly, and very graphically, where my lines of thought actually go to, what I actually linked together - contrarily to a hierarchical structure as it may be found in libraries, where topics are broken down by categoriesā€¦ e.g. Europe/France/18th century/industrialisation. So now I have both, a map of my own content and the ā€˜officialā€™ catalogue, and it is awesome. Thank you!

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Thank you for great the suggestion! Iā€™ll let you know if and when i implement it.

Thanks so much for the feedback! :slight_smile:

If you want to support the development of this plugin, you can now donate to me at Patreon, Ko-Fi or PayPal.

With your help i will be able to devote more time to developing this and other great plugins. Thank you!

Hi! I just discovered this plugin today and still have to figure out all the applications, but so far am loving it! Thank you so much.
One question, though: Whenever I go back to the central note (which I hadnā€™t had before, so thanks for that) and the tree displays in your plugin, all of my MOCs are expanded, which means I have to scroll down a lot in order to find something further down in the list. It might be my fault- Iā€™ve put the daily notes at the top, and thereā€™sā€¦ a lot of them, but if there was a way to have them stay ā€œclosedā€ until you tick the arrow down to ā€œopenā€ it, that would be very helpful.

Thanks for such an elegant thing; look forward to checking out more from you!

Iā€™ve released a new version of the plugin.

New features:

  • You can pin a file to navigate itā€™s links while keeping itā€™s Map of Content open. Just click on the little pin in the top left corner.

  • The plugin can remember whether to show or hide a fileā€™s descendants in the tree view. This must be enabled in the settings.

Other changes:

  • The borders in the tree view arenā€™t dotted anymore but solid.

@stella, @alltagsverstand, this release integrates your suggestions. I hope youā€™ll like it!

Stella, if youā€™re interested in some of my other work and plans, you can read this post about some ideas i have for other Obsidian addons. I also have two addons for Anki, if you happen to use that. One does automatic synchronization, the other helps you always remember how old your friends and acquaintances are (donā€™t laugh, it was my first addon :slight_smile: )

@Robin-Haupt Wow - this is really great! Thank you so much! :+1: